CP Daily: Friday October 23, 2015

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Swollen UN climate text ups workload for Paris summit

UN-led negotiations took a step backwards during this week’s UN climate talks in Bonn as draft text for a global pact grew longer during the penultimate formal session before the crunch December Paris summit.

EU Market: EUAs finish week at fresh 3-yr high after bullish auction

EU carbon climbed end at a fresh three-year high on Friday after Germany’s auction cleared above market and attracted the highest bid coverage for six months.

NA Markets: RGGI prices rally after month of declines; Cali. approves natgas allowance consignment rules

RGGI prices rallied Thursday after falling steadily for almost four weeks, with the Dec-15 futures jumping by 11 cents or 1.7% to $6.61 on bumper volume of 3 million.

UK dismisses Indian airline’s second appeal over EU ETS non-compliance

The UK government has dismissed a second appeal from an Indian airline over ETS compliance, this time over a €15,000 penalty for failing to surrender carbon allowances to cover the emissions from its intra-European flights in 2012.

NZ minister says ETS will be strengthened

New Zealand will strengthen its emissions trading scheme, Environment Minister Nick Smith has told parliament, raising hopes that the upcoming ETS review can boost the domestic carbon market.

NZ Market: NZUs touch year-high as demand firms

Spot NZUs traded up to NZ$7.10 ($4.86) this week, equalling the highest price of 2015, before sliding back to settle at NZ$7.05, a three-month high as demand was firm throughout the week, market participants said.

Forested developing nations back carbon pricing call to help drive REDD+

The Coalition for Rainforest Nations (CfRN), a group of over 50 developing countries committed to advancing REDD+, on Friday backed a public-private sector alliance to deploy carbon pricing.

CN Markets: Pilot market data for week ending Oct. 23, 2015

Closing prices, ranges and volumes for China’s regional pilot carbon markets this week.

Voluntary market data from CTX for Oct. 23, 2015

A table of Verified Emission Reduction (VER) prices and offered volumes, based on voluntary market data from Carbon Trade Exchange.

Lawmakers are mobilizing quickly against the Clean Power Plan, announcing they will file formal congressional challenges after the Obama administration published the rule in the Federal Register today, a move that triggered lawsuits from a coalition of 24 states and a coal company. (The Hill)

Eliminating fossil fuels from the world’s energy supply is back on the United Nations agenda as envoys from around the world wrap up a week of discussions about a deal on global warming they intend to adopt by the end of the year. (Bloomberg)

The UK and China announced the signing of the Clean Energy Partnership, establishing co-operation in research and industry while transitioning to a low-carbon global economy. “This will strengthen the UK’s position as the partner of choice for China in low carbon energy and will help to pave the way for effective energy relations between the two countries,” the countries said a joint statement on Friday, culminating Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit to Britain this week.

Three-quarters of Americans now accept the scientific consensus on climate change, the highest level in four years of surveys conducted by the University of Texas at Austin, Bloomberg reported. The biggest shocker is what’s happening inside the GOP. In a remarkable turnabout, 59 percent of Republicans now say climate change is happening, up from 47 percent just six months ago.

And finally… Alberta this week made available the hundreds of submissions received during its consultation over the future of the Canadian province’s climate change policies. DeSmog Canada summarised them here, including the strangest proposals, which include:
– Investigating “UFO technology that would eradicate all pollution relating to energy production and general transportation worldwide”;
– Rationing food and incentivising the rapid construction of windmills to ward off the coming famines
– Doing nothing because humans can’t possibly understand “broader thermodynamic processes”, and the “offspring of the few humans who do miraculously survive extinction, despite failing to comprehend these limits, will nicely make pets for my offspring.” This was submitted by “the ancestor of the future benevolent overlords of your few surviving offspring.”